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Sport/game/match

Dear Dr English,

Could you please clear up on the matter of "game", "match" and "sport"? Should I say to my friends "Let's have a game of football" or "a match of football"?

Suwanna Limchai

This group of words can be a bit confusing sometimes, because in some cases they are

interchangeable. Sports are games like basketball, football, volleyball, swimming etc; or other activities that require physical effort and skill, such as various types of athletics. It is a general term. We often see many kinds of sports organised as an entertainment event for people to watch or play:

Rugby has always been Stewart's favourite sport.

The only sport Keith is good at is basketball.

Children should regularly spend time on outdoor sports.

In some sports that are played as a competition between two players or teams, such as football, basketball, rugby or tennis, either "game" or "match" can be used, but the latter is an official term. So in sports news, we always hear of a football match more than we do a football game.

And since "match" is an official term, when you, who are not a professional player, ask your friend to go out in the field and play football, you say, "Let's have a game of football."

But be careful when you talk about American football and baseball, because competitions of these two sports are called a "game" and not a "match":

The weather was lovely, so the children went out for a game of baseball all afternoon.

There are two or three baseball games each week in this town.

And in some sports, such as tennis and squash, we call part of a match a "game":

Williams led by five games to three.

And athletics like fencing, rowing, skiing, running, the high jump, the javelin etc, are referred to as sports:

She has the right body structure for sports like the high jump.

Running is not really the sport for me.

In formal situations you use "sport" and not "game", such as when you are mentioning a body that overlooks or organises sporting events. Then you refer to it as a "sports committee/club":

I also, on this occasion, would like to pass on the message from the president of our sports committee...

And finally, we have all heard about the upcoming SEA Games in December, right? In an organised event in which many kinds of sports competitions take place, we use "Games" after the name of the event:

Many Thai athletes won gold medals in the last Olympic Games.

Nakhon Ratchasima will host the SEA Games in December.

And also:

A group of international schools have been organising interschool games for many years now.

By Dr English

drenglish_7@hotmail.com